Time-Bomb
by PhoenixSong2013
Summary: "Carrie and Oscar were a time-bomb set into motion, destined to explode. But if he had to pull her out of the wreckage, she was never going to let him go." A one-shot series based on the relationship growing between Oscar and Carrie.
1. Run, Carrie, Run!

She took his face in her hands, her desperate dark eyes searching his green. Carrie crashed to her knees in front of him, pushing his hair out of his face. "Oscar, Oscar say something! Oscar, please!" Her body shook as she reached out to him, shaking her head as she looked at him, tears filling her eyes as she looked at his hunched form, his arms bound tightly behind his back, his hair mussed and shaggy as the sweat growing on his clammy forehead collected there and plastered his sandy locks to his forehead. "Oscar, talk to me. Say something, do something… Oscar, please!" But he didn't move.

"Carrie…"

It sounded like his voice, a soft call that could have reached her ears even through snowstorms and sandstorms and blizzards that could wreak havoc around her; his voice would always be one that she could recognise, could pick from a crowd. It was almost as if it was ethereal, a voice that belonged to a presence she couldn't describe.

"Carrie…"

"Oscar?" she murmured, looking into the bleak, grey sky above her, her fingers shaking as her hands tightened on his cheeks, her eyes unblinking as they searched for the real Oscar. He wouldn't have left her alone; he wouldn't have just sat there and watched while the world fell to SKUL. He would have done something; he would have risked his life to save them. To save her. He would do anything for anyone… the lost young man sitting in front of her wasn't Oscar Cole. He was a sick doppelganger who couldn't even begin to be like her Oscar.

"Don't, don't let the world fall to SKUL… Carrie…"

Her breath caught in her throat. Oscar was speaking to her, but his mouth wasn't moving. Carrie's fingers clenched around thin air as she searched his face for answers. Suddenly his words seemed to sink in, and she was on her feet and surging towards the despair bomb; she didn't know why she was doing this, as she had probably imagined his voice in the first place, but the urge to do something had been too much for her to resist.

The men surrounding the machine had disbanded, leaving the bomb open to anyone. SKUL clearly thought that MI9 was going to let the world die, that MI9 would accept defeat. But she would be damned if she gave up without a fight, and she would put up a damn good one.

Carrie's fingers slammed the bag down onto the table, moving swiftly as she tore open the bag that Frank had given her. Her heart stopped beating altogether, and somehow still pounded in her ears. Her own reflection shone up at her, the shock on her face reflected in the expression her reflection was pulling; there was nothing in the bag but the mirror that displayed her own face back up at her and she could do nothing about it now. If she went back to Frank for the fourth unit, there would be no time left and she would sacrifice Oscar, Rose, Frank and the world to SKUL.

There was no way in hell she was doing that.

"Frank!" she yelled desperately, lifting her communicator up to her ears as she tore at her hair with her other hand. "Frank, this has got to be a joke! The fourth unit – I haven't got it!"

"Yes, you do, Carrie," came Frank's voice, so resigned and miserable it tore at her chest. Carrie stumbled and righted herself on the bomb, tears prickling in her eyes. "You've had it all along."

"I'm telling you, SKUL must have taken it! I haven't got it!" she tore at her hair harder, sinking to her knees. The frigid despair and the fear in the air was eating at her will to go on and she was desperate and angry that they had left her here to deal with it, that Frank hadn't made sure that the fourth unit was there, that she had managed to lose Rose, Oscar, Frank and her family to the despair bomb.

"Trust me, it's there Carrie. Look."

"Frank it's just a mirror!" She was beyond anything she had ever felt before. Carrie was miserable, desperate, angry and simply frustrated. The world was coming to the end and Frank was playing psychiatrist.

Frank sighed. "You don't understand," he said, weary and depressed. "It's you, Carrie. You're the fourth unit."

"W-what?" she gasped, shaking her head. She must have misheard him. "What?"

"What's the only thing that can stop anger, fear and hate?" Frank asked tiredly, his voice shaking as he fought with the despair that the bomb had brought. "It's your hope; your optimism beats total despair."

Frank hung up, leaving the confused and despairing teenager to tear her hair out as she ran her fingers through it. Carrie couldn't form a coherent thought; now that she knew that she hadn't misheard him in the slightest and Frank wasn't simply doing it without purpose, she knew there was something up. A human couldn't be the fourth unit; there must have been some mistake. Was she supposed to somehow bottle up her hope and plug it into the bomb?

Carrie paced back and forth, dropping her communicator onto the ground, scuffing her shoes in the bleak grey dirt as she did so. How could she be the fourth unit?

And, as she peered back into the bag, into her distraught reflection shining back at her from the mirror, she understood. "It's me… my brain… Right – when you think, the brain creates electron impulses, so… right – think positive, think positive!" Carrie lunged back for the bomb, her fingers closing around the main wires that stood, as black and bleak as the grey, new world that was around her. She wouldn't stop until her last breath had been taken, and that last breath would be taken attempting to save Oscar and the others. That was all that mattered. "I need to channel my energy through the bomb."

"That girl!" came a familiar voice, an angry yell that tore through the silence. "Stop her!"

She looked up, a smirk marring her face, her fingers tightening unconsciously around the wires. "It's called hope, mister," she said smartly, sarcastically. Carrie would fight until she had no more fight left, even if it meant her own life. "And you're about to get a face full."

Carrie threw her arms out wide, her mind expanding within her head. A feeling alien to the human race sprung through her body; it was wonderful, like she was running, floating on clouds, like Christmas or her birthday had come months earlier than they should, like she had someone to celebrate with, someone to live for. She closed her eyes as a heat enveloped her, shrouding her in a blinding light that slid her body from the Earth and onto cloud nine.

And then her body was thrown sideways, her hands dropping the cords, the blackness beating away the bright light and swarming her like an army of ants would a picnic.

* * *

Oscar looked up at her, unable to speak though his mind was begging her to. He could hear her familiar voice, ringing desperately in his ears as she pleaded with him to speak to her, to just let her listen to his voice, and yet he was unable to give her that simple wish. There was nothing he could do either way; there was no point in living. A part of him wanted to spring into action and help her like he always did, to give her the hand that she needed, but another part of him, an alien part of him that wanted her gone to leave him alone, was winning the internal battle he fought. But he couldn't lose Carrie, not this time.

Her warm, shaking fingers left his face as she searched through the skies for something, someone. Oscar's eyes bore into hers, half-lidded with exhaustion from fighting a losing battle, and yet he could see nothing but pleading, desperation, love and… fear?

And then she was up and running, away from him, away from what he thought they had.

Moments later, he could hear her distraught conversation, the little grunts of emotion that always escaped her lips in times of trouble. A miniscule, fond smile tugged at his features as he listened intently, but he wasn't able to make out exact words.

His world vibrated for a moment as a bright yellow light tore through the air, breaking through the greyscale and providing light and love and warmth for the world. Oscar's heart leapt into his throat and he laughed a pure sound of relief that filled the air. Carrie could accomplish anything she wanted, even if it meant saving the world. He leapt to his feet, shaking off the loose ropes he had been picking behind his back before the bomb had exploded and the colour that had now returned vanished.

Rose leapt up beside him as he bent down to untie Stark, who was terrible under pressure; he, however, had other plans about the whole thing. "Forget about me, get the Grand Master!"

He and Rose nodded, darting around the crate and searching the area, their eyes drinking in every detail. Oscar's sharp eyes caught Carrie's limp form flying through the air, smacking into the ground with an undeniable 'slap!' that filled the air cleanly.

"Carrie!" the two tortured screams that rang through the air were undeniable. He lunged forward towards her.

"Er, the Grand Master! Get him!" Stark growled, shaking his head wildly.

"But Carrie!" insisted Rose, shaking her head just as adamantly, worry plastering her features, her eyes consistently darting between Stark and Carrie; Oscar, however, couldn't look away from Carrie's form, sprawled on the ground just yards away from him, prone and vulnerable to pain.

Stark snarled, sneering, "You have no choice, agents!"

"Yes we do," he snapped immediately.

Oscar and Rose sprinted across the tarmac, each footstep desperate and haphazard; he could hear the SKUL agents running away, their pounding footsteps ringing in his ears, but he could not register anything but her prone form on the grass. He instantly drew his spy-pod, lying it down against her heaving chest, his other hand cupping her cheek as he desperately searched her face, her eyes closed and fluttering.

"H-her heartbeat," he murmured to Rose, his eyes never leaving Carrie's face. "It's getting weaker."

"The positive energy must've been too much!" Rose whimpered, shaking her head as she patted Carrie's cheeks. "Oscar do something!"

"I'm trying!"

But he could do nothing. Carrie's heart rate was dropping tragically, her eyelids ceasing. And then the dreaded tone sounded through the air, the single, unwavering note that could be the death of him… or the death of Carrie Stewart.

"C-Carrie," he stumbled backwards, his feet moving over the grass, his heart breaking; the note didn't stop, _wouldn't stop, _and the note made him sick. She couldn't be gone. Not when MI9 needed her most, not when Rose needed her most… not when he needed her most. As he searched her face for any sign of life that could contradict the misery rising within him, he could see the peaceful smile resting on her lips and he knew she was happy wherever she was.

"That's why she wasn't affected by the bomb," he cleared his throat, his hands shaking at his sides. "If she hadn't always looked on the bright side of things we'd all be…"

But his eyes darted back down towards his spy-pod, still resting on her chest. Her heartbeat had begun to pick up again, starting slowly but swiftly rising. A hope he had never known before rose within him as he crashed back down to his knees beside her. "Come on, come on… yes! You're better than this, you're funnier than this – smarter than this!" his voice was higher pitched than usual, desperation ringing with every tone. She had to be okay.

"F-funnier," she croaked, her eyelids fluttering open. At first he wasn't sure whether or not it was a crude joke in his mind, just to make the pain worse. "S-smarter…" But Carrie had latched onto his hand, pushing herself up into a sitting position with a small sound of pain. "But don't forget better looking. I mean, look at the face." A smirk had lifted her lips just as the happiness rose within him and tightened his grip on her hand.

"Can't you take anything seriously?" he teased, and then, without hesitation, threw his arms around his best friend. He savoured her warm embrace, a grin lifting his lips as he thought of her. Carrie was here with him, alive and well, and holding his hand in a death grip that not even the claws of hell could tear apart; she was safe and nothing was going to change.

A small sigh escaped her lips as she nestled into his side, Rose on one shoulder, Oscar clutching her close. She was home.

* * *

"We can't thank you enough, Carrie," said Frank, shaking his head as she leaned back in his tight embrace. Carrie was sure he had missed her just as much when she had died and come back again. "You have singlehandedly saved the world today and I can't do anything that could make it up to you." Oscar and Rose's grips on her hands were brought to the forefront of her mind; they had refused to let go no matter what happened, had flanked her protectively on the way through the school, despite her rolling her eyes; she could understand how they were feeling, as she herself would do the same had it been either of them, but it was a little bit of an overreaction.

"Yes, you can," she said firmly. "It wasn't to get the glory or anything like that. I wasn't doing it to look good in MI9 or anything like that, either. It was because you three were sitting there, and you looked and sounded so broken and miserable and I had to do something about it – it wasn't for personal gain in the slightest, it was for you. And it wasn't singlehanded, because if you hadn't helped I wouldn't have known that I was the fourth unit."

Frank seemed to blink rapidly for a moment before squeezing his hold around her again, a smile lifting his face. "That's the Carrie we know and love. Now get going with the three of you. You have the rest of the week off to get over the guilt you're all feeling." At their awed looks, Frank grinned and chuckled. "You didn't think I didn't know my own agents? Get off with you, now."

Carrie, with one hand firmly and tightly in Oscar's grip and the other held roughly in Rose's sweaty and warm hand, couldn't stop smiling. "Oh, Frank. That week won't be needed. I think we've gotten over ourselves just by being together."

And it was true.

* * *

_A/N: This is the first instalment in the Carrie/Oscar one-shot series. I will be writing these for inspiration whenever I get writer's block, which is a lot lately, so look forward to many updates in the future. I know that not many people on here seem to like M.I. High, which is a loss in my opinion since my little nephew got me into the program despite my age nearing twenty, and I decided to do this so that I could be special and unique._

_Love,_

_Marlene_


	2. The First To Crack

"... it's all one big game to you, isn't it, Stewart?" Stark sneered, standing up and prowling towards his prey; he knew that Carrie would fight back and win easily, but to see her looking shocked for the first time since he met her was slightly unnerving. "Remind me again why you're on this team."

Oscar fought back the urge to growl and tackle the smirking man to the floor, but clearly none of the team were ready to back down against him. They defended their own and she was one of them. He and Rose both moved to flank her almost protectively, their faces morphing from ones of amusement to blank, cold masks that they had perfected undercover, their eyes analysing his every movements as he prowled towards Carrie, whose stance had shifted instantly into defensive. All three of them were ready for the fight sure to come.

"Um, excuse me, but Carrie's physical skills -"

"_Her_ physical skills are the least you'd expect from an agent!" he snapped. He rolled her name around on her tongue as if it was something disgusting he had towed from the bottom of his shoe. Oscar suppressed a growl as he glared at the Head of MI9. "What I don't understand is why anyone let a person with a brain not even _this big_," he held up the ball he had plucked from his coffee, sneering at Carrie as her face morphed into one of shock, "near MI9."

"Agent Stewart happens to be an important member of my team," snapped Frank, jabbing his finger at Stark, his patience clearly wearing thin.

Stark made a noise in the back of his throat that sounded like he was swallowing all of the foul words he no doubt had collected to use against the petite form standing next to him. Oscar had to clench his fists in order to keep his very freedom from prison as he glared at Stark, shaking so violently the table he had come to a stop by shuddered against his thigh.

"Now," said Frank, sighing as he let escape all of the aggression that the man had clearly built up. "We can get on." Frank cleared his throat. "Team, one month ago, this safe was stolen from MI9. That safe contains the most deadly poison on the planet." Frank reached over and turned on the monitors, the remote smacking onto his desk chair. Oscar attempted to hide a gleeful laugh as the man standing in front of them was the first to fall over. He couldn't resist the temptation.

"Was that you asleep on the job, sir?" he asked spitefully, shaking his head. Carrie's hand slid into his and squeezed once, firmly, before letting go swiftly, and he almost missed the warmth of her hand. Almost.

"No," spat Stark. "I was zapped unconscious during the raid."

"Right," Rose snorted in disbelief. "Like that's any less embarrassing."

Carrie was silent throughout the rest of the morning, and nothing he could do to get her to talk worked. Oscar could almost feel the self-doubt radiating off of her and internally cursed Stark's existence. Carrie was important to the team; she had saved lives countless times, including their own. If there was anyone that deserved to be on the team it was the small teenager standing next to him and he couldn't fault himself for snapping at Stark.

He should have known there was something wrong with her then.

* * *

"Pants!" snapped Stark, holding up the image as he glared down at Carrie, advancing toward the slightly shaking girl standing between he and Rose once more. Oscar's fists tightened for a moment before slackening in surprise at her attitude; this time, she wasn't giving as good as she got, instead she was standing there, looking unsure of herself. "You want to arrest a man based on a pair of underpants?"

"Y-yeah, well," Carrie murmured, her voice quiet and quivering. "One of the men who stole the safe bought a pair of CJ boxers."

"Frank. Who bought your underpants?"

Frank looked shocked for a moment before registering what he was saying. Oscar did the same and, judging by the aggressive huff that escaped Rose's lips moments after he did, Rose had too. "My - my mother did," stammered Frank, shaking his head. Stark would even turn him against his own team in order to get to Carrie. It sickened the three of them flanking Carrie, who seemed unsure and uncertain for the first time in her life. "I-It was a Christmas present."

Stark glared at him before turning back to Carrie, resting his hands on her shoulders so that he could spit in her face. "See, Stewart? No man buys his own underpants. What makes you think this guy did?"

"Well - he had a Pendrix pen in his pocket," offered Carrie, clearly at ends on what to do. Oscar knew that she hadn't phrased it exactly in the most understandable way, but Stark just wasn't seeing it. He knew that they were right and he knew that Stark was being an idiot about it, all because of the ball sitting in his pocket now.

"Ah!" yelled Stark, plucking a pen from his breast pocket and flicking it at Carrie, who, for once, had nothing to say. "So do I! And I've got CJ1s!"

"No, wait a minute - but," Carrie continued, trying to explain what Stark couldn't see.

"B-b-b-but! Or maybe I stole the safe? Your entire case is pants."

This was where Rose and Oscar would draw the line. "Look," Rose snapped, her patience wearing thin with the man. Oscar didn't blame him - he wanted to leap forward and strangle him himself. "All we need is a warrant to search Pendrix's factory."

"Before an innocent kid opens up that safe," interjected Oscar, arching an eyebrow. He knew that Stark was cruel and spiteful, but would he sacrifice an innocent life and possibly more upon a grudge?

"They could end up handling a poison that could wipe out a city," continued Rose, shaking her head. "The risk is too high. Whether we be wrong or not, which we aren't, there is still the possibility that Pendrix is the one who is behind this - it wouldn't hurt to just search the factory to check, would it?"

Stark made a strangled noise. "I need more evidence."

But Oscar knew he didn't - they had all the evidence they needed. "What, we haven't got more time for -"

"Give me more evidence and then you get a warrant," Stark whirled around, kicking the chair out of the way as he stormed towards a torn looking Frank, who looked halfway between defending his team and trying to keep his job.

Carrie looked crestfallen and his heart all but shattered. "Guys it's my fault... I should've explained it better..."

"It's not your fault that Stark's a moron," he interjected, silencing her. Carrie shot him a weak smile and dipped her head, sighing.

"How're we going to get inside the factory now?" asked Rose, shaking her head.

And the moment he had shared with Carrie, however brief, was put to an end.

* * *

He knew that he should have at least thought of her that night, when they spent the evening in base. But he hadn't. Oscar bent down to hand the tea to Rose and, as he straightened, he spotted Carrie sinking to the floor just inside the lift shaft, shaking her head as she looked around wistfully. Frank hadn't included her in the plans for that night but he didn't particularly care; the adrenaline of figuring out a plan had been settling in his mind and he hadn't cared about much else than cracking the puzzle.

Oscar heard the lift doors clanging shut a few minutes later; his neck snapped up, but there was no Carrie in sight. Something in his gut settled as he knew that she would be wandering across the streets of London in the middle of the night, most probably deep in thought, but he couldn't rip himself away from his work at that moment. Or, at least, that was what he assured himself.

* * *

And, as he stood in the middle of the puzzle factory, watching her unsurely aim the ball he had handed her moments before at the alarm on the other end of the corridor, he knew that her self-doubt that Stark had invoked was going to take over. Oscar knew that ignoring her the night before hadn't exactly been one of his cleverest ideas, not now that she was doubting herself more than ever; in fact, he, Frank and Rose had most likely indirectly made it grow and bloom into self-consciousness, judging by the way she held herself.

"You can do it, Carrie."

Those words, spoken aloud, sounded bad even to his own ears; but, to Carrie, those words made all the difference in the world. Her posture straightened and she narrowed her eyes... he was sure that she was going to get it right - when she didn't it was a shock to his system.

The loud alarms almost made him drop the poison, instead he and Rose placed it carefully on the ramp. "I can't take it any more!" he snapped.

And then Carrie seemed to spur into action; she yanked off her shoe, took aim, and flung it at the alarm on the other side. The alarms shut off immediately and she breathed a sigh of relief, almost sinking to the ground; but the damage was done and the doors at the end of the corridor were flung open. Carrie sprung to her feet, reached for the doors and slammed them shut, blocking their entrance with her own body.

"Find another way out!"

He, sparing one last glance at Carrie, jostled the handle on the only other door in the room. "It's locked."

"Ready?" murmured Rose, sure that the banging and crashing would eventually overpower Carrie; Oscar watched the girl fight with the men on the other side of the door, slamming her body into the door repeatedly and yet never leaving her post as she kept it shut. However, the door was thrown open, Carrie was flung onto the other side of the room, making rough contact with the floor in a collision that sent a resounding 'crack!' through the room and then the men in yellow jackets, accompanied by Pendrix, swarmed into the room.

Carrie pushed herself up on her elbows as Oscar and Rose sprang into defensive stances.

"Well, well, well," said Pendrix, leading the men into the room as they blocked all exits, smirking. "Try and puzzle your way out of this one."

"So," replied Oscar, his eyes flickering to Carrie as she began shuffling towards him. "How much are SKUL paying you for the poison?"

"What I'm getting out of this, is a single virus that will wipe out every console in the world," replied Pendrix, the smirk vanished. "Pendrix, one, snotty computer nerds, nil."

"You want to wipe out computer games?" Carrie continued, finally finding her tongue. Oscar only hoped that it would last before Stark had another go at her for no reason.

Pendrix shrugged, clicking his tongue. "Why not? They wiped out my puzzles."

Rose continued, hoping to keep him talking until one of them could call the cavalry or Frank would realise something was wrong, "You're giving SKUL the most dangerous poison on the planet."

"He's going to hold the world to ransom," Oscar snapped, glaring at them as he shook off the yellow framed glasses he was wearing, drawing his hair out of the cap; more clothes would hinder movement and the glasses really made his vision worse than they were in the first place.

"And the only thing stopping us is you three."

Oscar suppressed a growl as he bent down, unlatching the poison from the crate and holding it aloft; he knew it was a bluff, because he wouldn't, he couldn't, sacrifice Carrie, Frank, Rose and the world to SKUL, but he could hope that Pendrix couldn't see his defensive stance still. "Get back, Pendrix. I mean it, one more step and I'll -"

Pendrix shook his head. "You'll what? Drop that thing and you'll kill everything within ten miles of here."

He cast a glance over at Carrie as she looked at him, confused. Oscar knew he wouldn't be able to kill anyone, let alone kill Carrie. But Pendrix didn't know that - for all he knew, the three of them were assassins or something equally unorthodox. "I said _step back."_

"Think about it - three men on guard... make that four, with one in his underpants," Pendrix looked amused for a moment. It was probably the most humane emotion Oscar had seen on the man, "and you're holding one of the most deadly chemicals known to mankind."

"Carrie, take it," he said shakily, watching her as she stood up, that self-doubt radiating off her in waves. Her uncertainty was displayed in her eyes as they flickered between him and the poison. "I'm going to drop it, I know I am."

"N-no, I can't do it," she shook her head, backing away. Oscar's heart snapped in two. "Everything I've picked up lately I've dropped, or broken, or smashed..."

"You're having a bad day! Everyone has bad days, Carrie!" Rose interjected, glaring at the shaking teenager.

"You do it then!" Carrie's voice shook roughly.

Rose snapped finally, "No. You can do this - it's what you're good at."

Oscar shook his head. "Carrie, please... I can't hold it any longer."

Carrie seemed to be fighting an internal battle. "Look, I-I can't do it, OK? Just - just leave me alone."

"Rose, please," said Oscar, watching as Rose's eyes darkened. "Rose, take it, please."

"Just put it down," was her smart reply.

"I-I can't. It's like I'm frozen," replied Oscar, shaking his head.

Pendrix decided to make his presence known. "The nerves, you see. The more you panic," he lunged forward, and Rose and Carrie began to attempt to stop him in his tracks as Oscar stumbled backwards and away from the maddened man, who seemed to think for a moment. "I don't have time for this."

The two of them struggled, Oscar and Pendrix each attempting to wrestle the poison away from the other. But neither expected it to soar through the air after both their hands dropped from it. He bent his head, his hand reaching out for Carrie's... but Carrie was lunging forward, sliding to her knees as she held out her arms for the poison... the poison dropped into her waiting hands and she brought it instinctively into her chest, panting in pure relief as she looked up, her face blank.

Oscar knew what was going to happen. She was going to drop it in an act of self-sacrifice so that no one would get the poison, so that she would be the one to get the full blast of it. Rose seemed to get the same idea because they both moved forward, speaking in wavering, hushed tones to the girl standing in front of them, eyeing the men in yellow jackets almost critically, as if wondering whether or not they were strong enough. "Carrie - no. Tell me you're not going to do something stupid," Rose insisted.

"You said you had faith in me," said Carrie a moment later, in a stupefied voice that made him slightly winded. He hadn't heard that voice on her and never wanted to again. It was almost as if she wasn't fully in control of her own mind. Rose began to protest, insisting that that wasn't what she had meant, but the distraught teenagers could not get anything through to the girl standing in front of them with a strange look on her face. "Yeah, well it's time I had faith in myself."

_"Carrie!"_

He and Rose lunged after her - his hand skimmed her hips - but they were too late. Carrie darted forward and began using a series of gymnastics techniques to lift herself over to the other side of the corridor, nimbly and lithely dodging the yellow jackets and Pendrix as she swung over to the other side, landing neatly on her feet at the end of the corridor. "What?" she asked, shaking her head, a smirk finding back on her face. "You didn't think I was going to drop it, did you?"

* * *

Oscar watched as Carrie came charging down the steps, pulling behind her a slightly resisting police officer that looked very disgruntled by being tugged along by a sixteen year old girl, but that all stopped once he spotted the man that owned the Pendrix factory and his followers leading he and Rose towards a van that would take them to SKUL HQ. Frank yanked them both out of the way as Pendrix was accosted and arrested, but not before the broadcaster had caught a glimpse of the damage that he had done to the world and with a full account of what had happened from one of the men who seemed far too terrified of jail to not tell them.

Carrie was running towards them, grinning as Frank began to untie Rose. Her fingers made swift work of the ropes binding his wrists and he soon was able to sweep her up in a tight hug, lifting her into the air and twirling her around, grinning up at her. "You did it!" he exclaimed, watching as Rose stepped closer but unable to truly see anyone but Carrie.

"We did it," she corrected firmly, and he didn't know what possessed him in that moment, but he swept down, took the back of her head in his hands, and pressed his lips to hers in a movement that surprised everyone around them immensely.

But he didn't regret it, not at all, he decided as she slid her hands into his hair and tugged slightly, pulling him closer. He didn't regret it one little bit.

* * *

_A/N: This chapter was a gift to my first ever reviewer - justanotherboringbandwhore. You're fantastic and I hope that you're having a good Easter, whether it's now or not. I'm off today and it took me forever to write this, but I will be updating once a week from now on._

_I will be taking requests on different episodes to change and make into a Carrie/Oscar one-shot and I will be continuing this story until I've done so many chapters I can't take it anymore. I hope that everyone is alright and that they're having a good day wherever they are and that they read this and review it, mostly because I'm not sure that many people are reading it at all._

_Love,_

_Marlene_


	3. The Patient

Oscar followed Rose dutifully down the darkened corridors, his fingers inching towards his communicator still sitting at his side. His heart wasn't in the plans that Rose was conducting, his body sinking onto the stairway as he watched her feet pace the floor in a rhythmic pattern that consistently continued, lulling him into a daze. He lifted the communicator up to his ears, hearing the buzz it gave whenever it was in use, and beckoned Rose towards him. She cocked an eyebrow, ceasing her murmurings.

"Rose, it's in use. Carrie might be in trouble," he reported instantly, knowing when to stop and think and when to lie to her. Her eyes widened and she sank down beside him instantly.

He brought the communicator up to his ear, subtly pressing the tip of the pencil to activate the listening. Carrie's shaking voice met his ears and he managed to catch the murmur of, "Frank?" His eyes widened and Rose looked at him, finally understanding the power of the words she had used in the corridor after the failed attack on the ninjas stalking the school; she had stated that, if Carrie could not pull herself together, they were better off without her. He had wanted to stay, but his duty was to save Greek and that was what he was going to do, even if it meant leaving Carrie behind in emotional distress. He wished more than anything that he had stayed, however, now that he had known the consequences. "I'm sorry."

"Carrie? What's the matter? Where are Rose and Oscar?" Frank sounded genuinely worried, his tone severe and grim, almost as if he was expecting the worst.

"They've, um," Carrie choked, pausing for a moment. Oscar felt something similar to guilt settle into his gut, and Rose's hand tightened around his as she looked up, tears in her eyes. "They've gone on without me." He knew that she probably should have told Frank about the words they had exchanged, the pain, the guilt… but she didn't. She didn't because she wanted to protect them.

Frank's gasp was enough to tell him that he was just as shocked as Carrie was. "Without you? Carrie, you're a team."

Rose hid her face in Oscar's shoulder and he jostled the communicator in his arm to accommodate the extra weight on his sides. "I can't go on," Carrie replied, muffled sniffles coming over the other end. He should have been more sympathetic, he should have stayed with her, he should have never let Rose verbally abuse her without interjecting and making it all better – he was a horrible friend. "I'm too scared."

But Carrie was never scared. She'd looked death in the eye and laughed; she'd caught the most dangerous poison in the world with her bare hands and smiled at him; she'd gone on when they could not move any longer; she was the brave one, the one that stood among the ruins of a place of value and didn't even blink. She could deal with pain and for that he admired her. To say that he was terrified that she'd openly and suddenly admitted that she was scared worried him was an understatement. Carrie was never scared. She just wasn't that kind of girl to flinch away from danger.

"Of the ninjas?" Frank asked.

"No," Carrie replied, shaking violently. "It's like there's something in me, that's got a hold. It's like I'm in a nightmare and I can't wake myself up from it." Carrie gave a shudder of air on the other side of the phone. "I can't move. Frank I can't breathe."

"Carrie, you're having a panic attack. Calm yourself down. Breathe," Frank soothed, and Oscar's guilt increased tenfold. He had left her in the dark to her own feelings, her own fright, to the panic that had overwhelmed her and clouded her bravery and her sense of judgement; it was all his fault that he hadn't protected her. She needed him and he wasn't there.

Carrie gave another shuddering breath. "Frank, I've let everyone down." She sounded like she was hyperventilating, a sound that both shocked him and worried him. "Frank, I've let them down. I'm not strong enough."

Frank seemed to sigh. "Not yet you haven't. You just have to slay that dragon, Carrie."

"What dragon, Frank? What are you talking about?"

"Your fear. Your imaginations gone into overdrive; you can't tell the difference between reality and nightmares. You've got to slow down and breathe for a moment, think about things, just don't let the panic overwhelm you and remember that you're worth so much to everyone on this team."

"No I don't, Frank. Rose said so herself."

Rose gave a wail of despair as she sank into his shoulder, fiercely denying it under her breath. But Oscar knew that it was true, at least to some degree.

And he couldn't have regretted it more than he did.

"We've got to find Carrie," he breathed. Rose nodded fiercely. "But we also have to stop the ninjas finding the lift." She nodded again, reluctantly.

"Carrie's more important, Oscar."

"But we can't sacrifice an innocent life for our mistakes. There are people camping out in that hall and there are ninjas roaming the halls – what if they escaped the gym and were attacked, Rose? I agree that Carrie is more important than Greek… but that's to us. There is so much on the line because of our mistakes and we have to set it right. But we're not setting it right by putting more lives in danger, in fact we're making it worse. None of us are going anywhere and we'll have plenty of time after the mission to make sure that Carrie's alright."

Rose nodded reluctantly, shaking her head after a moment. "Come on, Oscar. Let's put this right."

He agreed and stood up. "Let's go."

Oscar and Rose both slid stealthily down the corridor, their sharp eyes seeking out each staircase and nook and cranny that might give away the ninja's position. The two spies knew the school better than anyone else that attended there and it was impossible to get anything past them that they might not recognise; Oscar had been attending there for the shortest amount of time but he explored even when the school was closed, skipping countless periods of lessons just to get himself familiar with the school. He knew it best out of anyone, even the Headmaster. If the ninjas planned on getting anything past him when it came to Saint Hope's, they were going to get a crude shock out of their plans.

"Rose," he hissed, jabbing his thumb towards the display board on the corridor wall; the posters had been moved slightly to the side, and a small hole had been drilled into the backboard. There was something on the other side of the wall, he was willing to bet, and that wasn't an empty classroom. "On the other side of the wall. Inside the classroom. Someone's in there."

She nodded and slid out the spy-pod Frank had handed her beforehand, but a foot made contact with her fingers, snapping something. Rose gave a small yelp as the device slid out of her hands and smashed onto the floor, cracking in two and sending out a loud alarm that had been programmed to set off once the device was broken.

"It's a trap!" he yelled, but it was too late. Rose's eyes were wide with shock in her face, her back to the blue masked ninja that had snuck up on them; he could do nothing to help her as she followed the device onto the floor, her chest making rough contact with the ground. Behind her, stood the ninja, in her hands a syringe, a cruel smirk on her face as she drew the mouth mask up to her nose and moved forcefully towards him, standing there and glaring defiantly at her. "What did you do to her?"

"I give her the same treatment that we gave dear Greek," she replied gleefully, her tone laced with an accent that he could only describe as Russian. His eyes widened as the ninja lunged forward, the syringe digging into his abdomen before he could leap out of the way. His eyes widened as the floor came closer and closer, his arms braced for impact.

He landed on his face, his last spoken whisper, "Carrie..."

* * *

The world tilted around her, the ground shaking and vibrating under her toes as she stumbled along the corridors. Carrie couldn't breathe properly, her communicator stranded in the hallway four steps behind her, her hands shaking at her sides as she fought with the urge to reach toward her own throat and block her own airway. There was no way that she would kill herself, not when Oscar needed her; his name was the only coherent, resounding thought in her head that she could focus on, the impending danger he was in driving her onward. If there was a chance that he was in danger there was nothing that could amount to that, not even the constant fear she felt now she was alone.

She stumbled around the corner, her hands holding up the torch she had thought to bring with her once she had dropped the communicator. Carrie saw the two ninjas tied together and inwardly smiled, though her face twisted into a grimace that could not be described as remotely close to a grin of relief; but that same relief vanished when she realised who was in front of them, sprawled on the ground in a position that did not look comfortable in the slightest. He couldn't be...

_"Oscar!"_

Her tortured scream broke through the air and she sprinted forward, leaping cleanly over the two ninjas and landing on her knees beside him, no matter how hard the floor was under her knees. "Oscar, please don't be dead, please don't be dead, please don't..." She hissed between her teeth as she ran her fingers through his hair, murmuring soft words that could only be counted as incoherent pleading. Her heart hammered against her ribcage as she felt for a pulse in his neck.

A shudder of relief thundered through her body when she felt the steady thumping beneath her hand, but once again that vanished as soon as she spotted the blue rings on his cheeks. "Oh God," she whispered, drawing herself up to her full height and staring down at him in horror. "That bitch."

And she was running, her footsteps thundering across the ground as she pumped her legs, her arms swinging at her sides as she sprinted after the ninja that had dragged Rose away. If her predictions were correct, she was more than a few minutes behind the ninja, who undoubtedly used Rose's thumbprint to access the underground base where Greek was. There was always the chance that she was too late to save Troy Greek, but she would never give up on saving Oscar Cole and Rose Gupta. The chances were that her best friend had been poisoned too.

"You bitch!" she bellowed at no one, rounding the corner towards the lift. There was Rose, sprawled outside the caretaker's door, her form unmoving and limp.

There was her father. Her mother. Her brother. Her sister. Her aunts and uncles. All of their forms unnaturally bent and sprawled in similar positions, blue rings adorning their cheeks, wheezing breaths escaping her lips and her panic increased tenfold. She couldn't be dead, she couldn't be...

She didn't stop to check on Rose. Carrie entered the lift as she bent down to yank on the broom handle, her teeth grinding together and her arms positioned already for a fight. She wouldn't let them get away with poisoning her best friends in the world, she couldn't let them die, not when she needed them. There was no way that she was going to let their attacker get away without her killing them first, either.

"You mess with my friends, you mess with me."

She plucked open the lift easily, sliding down through the wind shaft, watching as her clothes changed and the wind rushed through her hair. There was some things in life that she wouldn't mention to anyone.

And then she was down in the base, her fingers tingling as she watched the ninja bend over the patient, her arms cocked with a syringe in her grip, a smirk plastered over the ninja's face. "Visiting hours are over," she said quietly, advancing forward. Her presence had the intended effect; the ninja jumped and managed to drop the syringe, sending it rolling over the blankets; "now get out of my school."

"Little girl," snarled the ninja, and then the two were running at each other.

"This little girl's stronger than she looks!" growled Carrie, throwing a punch to the ninja's face that send the ninja spiralling backward, only to return with a kick to the abdomen that caused Carrie to wince and swing three more swift fists toward the ninja's body, causing the form to overbalance and slide on her back. "You mess with my friends, you mess with me." She swung her fist backwards and crushed it inbetween the surprised eyes of the ninja, smirking.

Frank skidded across the floor, his arms waving wildly, a battle cry resounding through the air. "Frank! Check the syringe! I've got an idea!"

He looked uncertain, but nodded. A few tedious moments of pacing over towards the patient ensued, and then there came the voice of Frank, his tone stupefied into silence. "It's the antidote, not the poison."

"I was right. Come on, Oscar and Rose are both poisoned. We can still save them."

Carrie grabbed the poison and raced toward the lift. There was no chance that she was going to let them die, not even after the words they had exchanged in the corridor.

* * *

Oscar groaned, stirring. His eyes fluttered open, instantly alert. Arms flying wildly into the air, he let out a battle cry and attempted to spring to his feet, but the startled voice and the face his fist connected with was enough to make him cease his movements. "Oscar, stop! It's me, it's me!" Carrie looked down at him, her face clouded with relief, and he sat up, relaxing.

"Carrie..." he whispered. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Oscar. I was the one who failed you in the first place," she replied, her hand tightening around his. He offered her a weak smile as he shook his head.

"We were the ones who failed you, Carrie. We betrayed you. You were scared and we did nothing but criticise you for it," he said firmly, shaking his head still even as she laughed.

"And here I was, ready to beg your forgiveness."

"Hey, everyone has a happy ending," he shrugged, grinning.

And she did the only thing that made sense to both of them; she rolled her eyes, grabbed the back of his head, and smashed her lips down onto his. He grinned into the kiss, rolling them over so that he was on top and pressing his lips to hers once more. She smiled, shaking her head as she slid her tongue over his lower lip, inviting him inbetween her lips, and he gladly accepted. He hungrily devoured her mouth.

She ran her fingers through his hair, tugging him closer as his hands found her hips, tracing small circles; she grinned at him as their tongues slid together, dancing, fighting for dominance, leaving them both breathless and speechless.

"What the bloody hell!"

Their necks snapped up and they looked at Rose and Frank sheepishly. It was only then that Oscar realised the compromising position they were both lying in; he was looming above her, her leg inserted between his, their lips both swollen and their hair mussed. Oscar looked down at Carrie, her hair fanned out around her face, her grin wide and her eyes innocent, her fingers slipping through his, and he couldn't fault himself for his taste. She grinned at him and he grinned back.

"You have some serious questions to answer," said Frank after a moment of awkward silence. Carrie winced and Oscar flinched as Rose began tapping her toes against the lino floor, her fingers tapping a similar rhythm to the one her foot was making on the ground below her.

But, hey, neither of them was complaining.

* * *

_A/N: I adore this episode. Not just because it has some Carrie!angst, but because it features a brief little moment between Carrie and Oscar, where it's a little bit awkward 'cause it's clear that he wants to stay but doesn't want to face Rose's wrath if he doesn't. I guess that it's a little bit overdramatic with the way I exaggerated things, but I think that this chapter turned out pretty well. It's rather AU, I know, but you shouldn't be complaining. They kissed! In detail! And this time they got caught in the act!_

_I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It's a gift to my (one) follower and (one) favourite and (two) reviewers._

_Love,_

_Marlene_


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